Why Early Intervention?

For children, better social and emotional skills, communication, the ability to manage your own behaviour and mental health mean a stronger foundation for learning at school, an easier transition into adulthood, better job prospects, healthier relationships and improved mental and physical health.

In England and Wales, we spend £17 billion per year on addressing damaging problems that affect children and young people such as mental health problems, going into care, dropping out of school, unemployment and youth crime. To reduce this cost and prevent substantial suffering and wasted potential, early intervention is more crucial than ever.

Early intervention represents an intelligent approach to spending. It requires small investments to deal with root causes, rather than the much greater costs of dealing with the after-effects. It allows us to act in a less intrusive, more cost-effective way – through a parenting programme, for example– earlier on to prevent high cost interventions – such as prison – further down the line.

Read more about the evidence of why early intervention is shown to work here.

Video

This video of the Early Intervention journey depicts how actions taken by parents, teachers, policymakers, and others can influence life outcomes for both the child and the surrounding community.